US vessels routinely dock at Subic Bay Freeport. —ALLAN MACATUNO
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—An Olongapo City court was asked last week to stop the Duterte administration from enforcing an executive order that split the leadership of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) into a chairman and an administrator.
Rolly Aldea, administrative aide of Zambales Vice Gov. Angel Magsaysay-Cheng, filed a petition for injunction at the Regional Trial Court in Olongapo City to declare Executive Order No. 340 as invalid and unconstitutional.
The order was issued by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and is still being enforced by the Duterte administration.
Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and newly appointed SBMA Chair Martin Diño. Aldea said EO 340 would “cause confusion as to who is the real chief executive officer of SBMA.”
On Sept. 23, President Duterte appointed Diño as SBMA chair but has left the administrator post vacant.
Former SBMA Chair Roberto Garcia said he would serve as the agency’s administrator in a holdover capacity until his replacement is appointed.
According to Aldea, Mr. Duterte has been considering applicants for SBMA administrator.
“To appoint an administrator under the assailed EO 340… is a violation of the [Republic Act No. 7227 of the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992],” Aldea said in the petition.
RA 7227 created the Bases Conversion and Development Authority. It also refers to the SBMA chair and administrator as a single position.
Arroyo, however, split that function into two in 2004 through EO 340, allowing Francisco Licuanan III to serve as SBMA chair and Alfredo Antonio as administrator.
When Licuanan and Antonio resigned in 2005, Arroyo replaced them with Feliciano Salonga and Armand Arreza. —ALLAN MACATUNO